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8 gb RAM in the OLD unibody macbook...
- Thread starter budfoot
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The newer 13inch mbp's have basically the same hardware so it's all firmware related, someone should call Apple and ask them about it, maybe if enough people complain they will give us our little firmware update.
8 GB RAM Upgrade MacBook 13" Unibody
I've ordered a 4 GB RAM module from OWC and tried to upgrade my MacBook Unibody (2.4 GHz, 13" Late 2008) to a total of 6 GB by replacing one of the original 2 GB modules, but have had nothing but trouble since. Even with a clean installation of Snow Leopard 10.6 Build 10A432 the system runs for less than ten minutes prior to requiring a manual shutdown. I'll be getting a second 4 GB RAM chip tomorrow and will try again with 8 GB total, but if that fails I'll hang on to them both for the next generation MacBook Pro.
I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow night! If anyone has any tips or tricks until then, please advise. According to OWC this model should be capable of 6 GB total for now, and since I often run a virtual machine with Windows 7 via VMWare Fusion I'd prefer to allocate 3 GB of RAM to each if possible.
I've ordered a 4 GB RAM module from OWC and tried to upgrade my MacBook Unibody (2.4 GHz, 13" Late 2008) to a total of 6 GB by replacing one of the original 2 GB modules, but have had nothing but trouble since. Even with a clean installation of Snow Leopard 10.6 Build 10A432 the system runs for less than ten minutes prior to requiring a manual shutdown. I'll be getting a second 4 GB RAM chip tomorrow and will try again with 8 GB total, but if that fails I'll hang on to them both for the next generation MacBook Pro.
I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow night! If anyone has any tips or tricks until then, please advise. According to OWC this model should be capable of 6 GB total for now, and since I often run a virtual machine with Windows 7 via VMWare Fusion I'd prefer to allocate 3 GB of RAM to each if possible.
Ram limit after Snow Leopard??
Has anyone figured out if the ram limit on the first gen unibody macbook pros got updated to 8gb since snow leopard?
Has anyone figured out if the ram limit on the first gen unibody macbook pros got updated to 8gb since snow leopard?
Has anyone figured out if the ram limit on the first gen unibody macbook pros got updated to 8gb since snow leopard?
Did you read the post above yours?
8 GB RAM UniBody MacBook 13"
Doesn't look promising...I installed the 2nd 4 GB RAM module and am again suffering from forced shutdowns. The 2 x 4 GB configuration is more stable than the 2 GB & 4 GB option but even in Snow Leopard the system is having problems which seem to be related to the graphics chipset.
I then tried a clean installation of Snow Leopard (Version 10A432) but as soon as the timer countdown dropped to 18 minutes the system froze and I received a notification that the system needed to be shut down. Even in the Boot Camp partition where Windows 7 x86 Ultimate is installed the desktop manager periodically reported failures, defaulting the display to a Basic Theme with no aero support. Windows was better able to recover from the lapses than Snow Leopard; nevertheless I've been forced to remove the new modules and am back to 2 x 2 GB of RAM.
If no EFI firmware update is released I can always save the modules for another unit, but I don't see any reason to upgrade to a MacBook Pro 13" since I have no need for fireware or an extra hour or two of battery life when I can swap out batteries anyway if needed. I've also looked at the new displays in the shop but can't really see much of a difference.
Doesn't look promising...I installed the 2nd 4 GB RAM module and am again suffering from forced shutdowns. The 2 x 4 GB configuration is more stable than the 2 GB & 4 GB option but even in Snow Leopard the system is having problems which seem to be related to the graphics chipset.
I then tried a clean installation of Snow Leopard (Version 10A432) but as soon as the timer countdown dropped to 18 minutes the system froze and I received a notification that the system needed to be shut down. Even in the Boot Camp partition where Windows 7 x86 Ultimate is installed the desktop manager periodically reported failures, defaulting the display to a Basic Theme with no aero support. Windows was better able to recover from the lapses than Snow Leopard; nevertheless I've been forced to remove the new modules and am back to 2 x 2 GB of RAM.
If no EFI firmware update is released I can always save the modules for another unit, but I don't see any reason to upgrade to a MacBook Pro 13" since I have no need for fireware or an extra hour or two of battery life when I can swap out batteries anyway if needed. I've also looked at the new displays in the shop but can't really see much of a difference.
Ah well. In a couple of years, there will be something new out (e.g. quadcore) anyway. Maybe then will be a good time to upgrade.
B..b...b...but Snow Leopard will let us have 16 Billion GB!1111!!11
Snow leopard lets you have 16 billion but the hardware wont support it
What hardware exactly, the motherboard? Cause I thought it did and its an EFI problem. Also the 13" mbp is not the old unibody can we stick to topic or at least change thread title to all unibodies that don't currently support 8GB of RAM?
8 GB RAM in Unibody MacBook and SL?
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend attempting to go beyond 4 GB of RAM with the Late '08 Unibody MacBook 2.4 GHz at the moment. I've read that some users have succeeded in upgrading their MacBook Pro 2.5 GHz models (also late '08) to 8 GB when running Snow Leopard in 64-bit mode, but wasn't able to do so with the MacBook. Even with Apple-provided RAM (Hynix) I couldn't reach 6 GB without constant kernel panics. The Apple Store technician assured me that our models are capable of 6 GB, and even 8 GB unofficially, but I didn't have any luck going beyond the 2 x 4 GB configuration. I even tried to install 2 x 4 GB modules and restrict the system memory addressing to 6144 MB by adding the maxmem=xxxx entry to the com.apple.boot.plist file but to no avail.
I could really use the extra RAM for my virtual machine use, but am hesitant to purchase the MacBook Pro 13" model after reading so many reports of incompatibility with SATA II drives, which is what I have installed. On the other hand, I don't really want to wait until next spring for a new series, since the current MacBook Pros meet all of my needs. Is there any way I can return a MacBook Pro to the Apple Store if I install my Western Digital HDD and it crashes? Isn't there a restocking penalty if I return the model after opening it up?
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend attempting to go beyond 4 GB of RAM with the Late '08 Unibody MacBook 2.4 GHz at the moment. I've read that some users have succeeded in upgrading their MacBook Pro 2.5 GHz models (also late '08) to 8 GB when running Snow Leopard in 64-bit mode, but wasn't able to do so with the MacBook. Even with Apple-provided RAM (Hynix) I couldn't reach 6 GB without constant kernel panics. The Apple Store technician assured me that our models are capable of 6 GB, and even 8 GB unofficially, but I didn't have any luck going beyond the 2 x 4 GB configuration. I even tried to install 2 x 4 GB modules and restrict the system memory addressing to 6144 MB by adding the maxmem=xxxx entry to the com.apple.boot.plist file but to no avail.
I could really use the extra RAM for my virtual machine use, but am hesitant to purchase the MacBook Pro 13" model after reading so many reports of incompatibility with SATA II drives, which is what I have installed. On the other hand, I don't really want to wait until next spring for a new series, since the current MacBook Pros meet all of my needs. Is there any way I can return a MacBook Pro to the Apple Store if I install my Western Digital HDD and it crashes? Isn't there a restocking penalty if I return the model after opening it up?
Unless the unit is defective, there is a 10% restocking fee since the Retail Store can't sell that machine anymore and it has to be packed up, shipped, and inspected.
If you put a 3rd party drive in and it crashes, it's not a "defect" as it isn't a part that Apple installed. If you bought it and the Apple-installed drive crashed within the return period, you should be fine.
As I understand it the boards in the Unibody MacBooks can't use 8 GB of memory, and unofficially only go to 6. The boards in the current Pro line are different (built-in SD slot and changed to fit the re-designed case) and probably have been updated to support 8GB.
Well, I'm definitely not going to pick up a MBP if it can't support my SATA II WS HDD! Even my OLD MacBook handles 3.0 GB/s without a hitch, and I can really use those 750 GB. I only wish I could get 6 GB of RAM to work with it...but I've not given up yet!
From what I read over at the Apple forums, the MBP users complaining about not being able to use their 3rd party hard drives has almost reached the 100-page mark, with no end in sight! A customer in Germany just bought a 13" model and is fuming because Apple Support refuses to acknowledge that he has a problem when his "unsupported" 3rd party drive doesn't work! I thought Apple was renowned for their after-sales service...my previous notebook was a Dell XPS M1330, but after the third motherboard replacement within a year I got rid of it and moved to the Unibodies.
From what I read over at the Apple forums, the MBP users complaining about not being able to use their 3rd party hard drives has almost reached the 100-page mark, with no end in sight! A customer in Germany just bought a 13" model and is fuming because Apple Support refuses to acknowledge that he has a problem when his "unsupported" 3rd party drive doesn't work! I thought Apple was renowned for their after-sales service...my previous notebook was a Dell XPS M1330, but after the third motherboard replacement within a year I got rid of it and moved to the Unibodies.
update
can we please round up a heap of people to complain about this issue. and when i told them i was a high end customer with most of the proapps they seemed more interested to help.
So please get anyone and everyone to complain at http://www.apple.com/feedback/ we just might be able to get this problem fixed
can we please round up a heap of people to complain about this issue. and when i told them i was a high end customer with most of the proapps they seemed more interested to help.
So please get anyone and everyone to complain at http://www.apple.com/feedback/ we just might be able to get this problem fixed
This company offers 6GB kits (4+2) for the unibody macbook. Price is quite high though.
http://www.ramjet.com/ItemDescription.asp?Item=MBAL6G
http://www.ramjet.com/ItemDescription.asp?Item=MBAL6G
I waited, it still costs the same, especially with the new updates on the iMac, ect.
Newest Efi
Any of the testers of 8gb ram, they just did another EFI update!! Can we have a go and see if maybe apple dropped something nice in there for us.
MacBook Pro EFI 1.8 firmware update for MacBook Pro 5,1 and 5,2.
Any of the testers of 8gb ram, they just did another EFI update!! Can we have a go and see if maybe apple dropped something nice in there for us.
MacBook Pro EFI 1.8 firmware update for MacBook Pro 5,1 and 5,2.